NEW YORK — Omnicom Group, which owns agencies including FleishmanHillard, Ketchum and Porter Novelli, has reported that PR group revenue was down 1.3% during the second quarter of 2019.

The decline is the second consecutive downturn for the PR group, which reported a 0.5% dip in Q1 of this year.

That Q1 drop put an end to four consecutive quarters of growth last year for the PR group. During Q4 2018, revenue grew 1.5%, although that was down from the 2.3% lift in revenue the group experienced during the third quarter of 2018. During Q2, the PR group experienced 2.7% growth which was far ahead of the year's weak first quarter, when PR grew by just 0.7%.

The group's revenue for the first half of 2019 was down 0.9% from the same period in 2018,with a mixed performance by geography. Revenue in the US was marginally negative, and was also down in Latin America and continental Europe, Omnicom said in its earnings call. In the UK and Asia, PR revenue was up, although the company did not say by how much.

Healthcare, which was up 8.4%, had the highest year-over-year first quarter performance of Omnicom's five divisions. Advertising also showed positive results, increasing 4.4% over Q2 2018. CRM consumer experience was up 1.9%, while CRM execution and support was down 2.6%.

Overall, Omnicom's worldwide revenue in the second quarter of of 2019 decreased 3.6%. Factors cited included the negative impact of foreign currency translation, a decrease in acquisition revenue, net disposition revenue of 3.8%, although there was an increase in revenue from organic growth of 2.8% when compared to the second quarter of 2018.